 |
| Google may face antitrust investigations in China |
Reuters reported, Wednesday, that China is preparing to open an antitrust investigation with Google, citing two people familiar with the matter, and investigating allegations that it is taking advantage of the Android mobile operating system to stifle competition. .
The two sources added that the case was proposed by Huawei last year and submitted to the Antitrust Committee of the State Council, the largest market regulator in China. Go ahead with the review.
Reuters quoted one of the sources as saying that the decision to conduct an official investigation could be taken in October next year and affected by the state of China-US relations.
This possible investigation comes after a series of measures taken by US President Donald Trump's administration under the guise of national security threats to restore the business of Chinese technology companies.
These include placing Huawei on its commercial blacklist, threatening similar actions against Chinese chipmaker SMIC, and urging ByteDance, which owns the short video app TikTok, to remove it from the US.
Alongside this investigation, China also initiated a major modernization of the antitrust law and proposed changes, including: a significant increase in the penalties ceiling and an expansion of the criteria for determining the company's control over the market.
Reuters sources said: The potential investigation will also investigate allegations that Google's position in the market could cause "massive damage" to Chinese companies such as Huawei as the US tech giant has lost its support for Android operating systems with confidence and a decline in revenue leads.
The US trade blacklist prevents Google from providing technical support for the new Huawei phones and blocks access to Google Mobile Services (the developer service suite that most Android apps rely on).
Google granted a temporary license to waiver Huawei from the ban, but it expired in August.
Reuters said it was not clear which Google services the potential investigation would focus on. Most of the Chinese smartphone vendors are using the open source version of Android, to replace Google services in their domestic phones. Google's search engine and email service, along with the company's other services, have been banned in China for many years.